A student team by the name of Tiger has earned the right to name a tigress – one of the 20 Amur wild cats residing in the Sikhote-Alin Reserve. This tigress is quite venerable: photo traps have captured her over the course of eight years – since researchers launched this programme.

Researchers know a fair amount about the life of this striped beauty. Photo traps registered that in early 2011, she gave birth to two cubs and another three in the winter of 2013. All cubs have grown up and live independently. So she is a real heroine-mother. She deserves special respect, and cannot remain unnamed any longer. Students have held active debates on how to name her, and people at the reserve hope she will be named before long.

Meanwhile, the reserve’s first student team continues building the eco trail. In two weeks they have covered 1,300 metres (out of the planned 5,000 metres in two months). They have dismantled old bridges and coverings and have built underpinned piers for new ones. They have also made a stone drainage structure and turntable, prepared materials for the new coverings that are already being delivered to the site, and started building a staircase to Cape Severny. At present, 25 stairs out of 60 are ready. Students have also cleared a blockage at the Sukhoi Creek near the bridge.

Bad weather was no obstacle to the team’s work. It rained for the past six days, but the team had prepared for the typhoon in time. They covered their tents with protective material and built solid platforms for them.

The life of the student construction team is in full swing. Students met with the reserve’s Deputy Director Svetlana Sutyrina under their cultural and educational programme, which is a necessary part of the project. She has studied tigers for 15 years, and has encountered them in the wild more than once. Svetlana said there are about 20 tigers in the reserve according to the recent photo registration. A tigress requires 400 square km, and a tiger up to 1,000 square km. Thus, the tigress Varvara roams the entire coastal area of the Sikhote-Alin Reserve, including the Blagodatnoye stow, where the student team is currently working. The tiger Murzik shares the area with the tigress.

The eco trail under construction has two main functions: environmental and educational. The Tiger student team, established by the non-profit Amur Tiger Centre, is making its contribution to preserving nature in the reserve. It will work in the reserve until the end of August.